ALBANY, Ga. — Lane Price, who built a steady lead early in the evening, had a landslide victory over write-in candidate Lorenzo Heard to win the Dougherty County School Board at-large seat Tuesday night.

With unofficial results from precincts reporting, Price, the Democratic Party nominee, had amassed 27,052 votes, or 77.4 percent of the votes cast in the race, while there were 7,886, or 22.6 percent, for write-in candidates. Heard was the only qualified write-in candidate.

Dougherty County School Board at-large write-in candidate Lorenzo Heard takes a call while waiting with supporters at his campaign headquarters on S. Slappey Blvd. Tuesday night.

Elections officials said voter turnout for Dougherty County was 70 percent.

"I'm so excited," Price said. "It's like a dream come true and I'm ready to hit the ground running in January."

Earlier in the evening, Price said she was pleased with the returns, but was not yet ready to declare victory Tuesday.

"I want to wait and see what the numbers look like when all the precincts are in," Price said in the midst of her supporters gathered at Cafe 230.

Heard, at his headquarters at the Keys Building, had agreed.

"The early voting numbers are still out, so I see no reason to give up yet," Heard said. "I absolutely believe when all the ballots are counted, I will come out on top."

Price was pleased with the way the night was going.

"I feel absolutely wonderful," Price said. "The whole experience has been worth the nine months I spent campaigning. I got to meet people all over Dougherty County.

Price, a political newcomer and medical director of the Willson Hospice House, burst onto the local political scene by unseating incumbent Democrat Anita Williams-Brown by more than 2,100 votes in the July primary.

Her unexpected victory set off a flurry of activity in some political camps and Heard, the pastor at 2nd Greater Mt. Olive Baptist Church, attempted to enter the race as an independent.

Heard's candidacy, however, was denied by a unanimous decision of the Dougherty Elections board, prompting him to file suit against the board, contending his candidacy was wrongly denied.

On the same day the suit was filed, Heard qualified to run against Price as a write-in candidate.

Weeks later, Heard dropped his suit, saying it had become a distraction to his campaign and he would concentrate in attempting to prevail as a write-in.

Because this was about race coach idiot. Price deserved that spot, but the devil tried to take it away from her out of pure racism. That's the difference. Romney didn't run for president at the last minute like Heard did, just to keep a white woman from being on the school board. The stories are as different as night and day, but can't expect you to be smart enough to know the difference.

Ya Bubba, your man won. I only hope he doesn't go overboard with the Russians now that he has been re-elected. I spent many years boring holes in the Oceans keeping the Russians worried, and don't even like the thought of selling out to them. As to Heard, now is the time to audit the success of the grant programs he is running, and determine just who is receiving a paycheck from the grants. I haven't seen any signs of success from the program, have you?

I love Obama Koolaide! Too bad you have to live here in Obama Nation (as you once called it) and drink his koolaide as well. You know, you really don't have to. Like I told you before, there are 24 hr flights out of every major airport in Obama's Country. Pick one and go where you can reign supreme. Try the country of Liechtenstein. Its between Austria and Switzerland. You want have to worry about many African Americans there and maybe you can run for a seat on the school board or even for president.

And besides it's irrelevant what percentage of who receives welfare and food stamps. Re-read ittybittyme's comments. No mention that the black community receives more or less, just stated to let the black entitlement community support Heard with their welfare checks and food stamps. The key word here is "Read".